ScienceShot: Making Moonshine Safe to Drink

ScienceNOW ^ | 22 March 2013 | Lizzie Wade

[neverdem]

Credit: Diego Sanz; (inset) iStockphoto

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND—There's nothing like suddenly going blind to spoil a good happy hour. Alcoholic beverages tainted with poisonous methanol are a scourge of the developing world, causing blindness and even death. The dangerous drinks can come from botched batches of home-distilled liquor, but they often have a more sinister origin; criminal gangs will cut standard alcohols with methanol and sell the resulting concoctions to unassuming customers for inflated profits. Because adding methanol doesn't change the drink's flavor, color, or smell, there's no easy way to tell if the brew you're about to imbibe could poison you—until now. Scientists in Colombia have developed a reusable wireless chip that can analyze a drink's proportion of methanol to ethanol (the good kind of alcohol) and warn consumers of any danger, they reported this week at the meeting here of the American Physical Society. This first generation device (pictured above) costs about $5 and still requires an antenna, but within 2 years they hope to have a commercial product that sends easy-to-interpret results directly to a user's cell phone. Until then, you might want to lay off the hooch.

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[RC one]

always dump your foreshots.

[pennyfarmer]

Methanol is in all fermented beverages. When it is distilled is when it becomes dangerous. It happens to be the most volatile alcohol and is the first runnings of a properly run still.

[Gene Eric]

Single malt scotch. Problem solved.

[Ouchthatonehurt]

After all the fat lesbian studies, finally Science is getting around to some important work.
Carry on!

[loungitude]

Don’t forget acetone. Yuck.

[loungitude]

Does the device make moonshine safe to drink, or simply identify unsafe moonshine?
Misleading headline.

[airplaneguy]

Id like to kindly ask that you please reimburse me for a new flat panel monitor as your comments caused sudden projectile laughter and hence beer all over my monitor. regards,

airplaneguy :)

[neverdem]

It checks for unsafe concentrations of methanol.

[Liberty Valance]

LOL - *bump*

[FunkyZero]

I've been told by a certain mythical source that it's not all about the mash (although there are no UNimportant steps), but temperatures at certain critical moments... There is a "sweet spot" during the process and by following certain strict practices, you will produce a lot of waste, but the best whiskey known to the county.

I don't have any evidence of the waste part, but I can vouch for the best whiskey in the county part. I also know that when it comes off the tap, it's coming out of really old oak barrels that have had the linings burned into a charcoal state. How old is something I never really asked, these guys don't like giving away secrets. It's not the stuff people generally think of when they speak of "moonshine" and it beats just about anything I've ever bought off the shelf... and that includes the high-end stuff. I only manage to go to that part of the country to visit about once a year, but this is one of my first stops when I arrive. Nothing goes down with a good cigar like this stuff.

One thing I always thought kind of funny is he provides his own glass jugs and he flat refuses to pour off any into mason jars, says it degrades his work to the level of the novice. I'll miss the old fart when he's gone for sure.

[pennyfarmer]

White lightning is just that “white” (actually clear)is actual moonshine. After it is aged in oak casks it gets its color.

I wish I had a still, as it is I have to stick to homebrew. Mainly wine that we scrounge for free fruit, free like God intended. :)

[1010RD]

Alcoholic beverages tainted with poisonous methanol are a scourge of the developing world

She's got a future with a tabloid.

[Para-Ord.45]

Love watching them hillbillies brew some shine:

http://denver.thedrinknation.com/images/articles/2012-11-09-moonshiners.jpg

[Lurker]

Methanol has a lower boiling point than ethanol. Therefore it is the first product out of the still and is discarded. Once the temperature reaches 178 degrees ethanol begins to boil out. Conscientious distillers know this and make their product safely.